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Explore content from blog posts to technical white papers gathered together for your convenience. All written by Altium's community of PCB design experts.

The IPC Warning About Microvia Reliability for High Performance Products Hopefully, by now, you have read the full Press Release from the IPC on March 6, 2019, about the warning of field and latent failures of high-profile HDI boards. IF not, the complete press release is available on I-Connect 007. [1] What you may have seen is the warning statement which the IPC will be including in the upcoming IPC-6012E, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards: “There have been many examples of post Read Article
Sometimes, You Can't Do it Alone When it comes to design, most engineers do it alone. It's not that engineers are anti-social. That's a played out trope. It has more to do with the reality engineers can split up design work into independent finite chunks of work. Board development work, however, is changing. There more and more use cases where an engineer can't do their tasks in isolation. In this post, we'll explore a couple of those scenarios, look at the implications of using Read Article
From CAD to PCB: The Data You Give Me and What I Actually Do With It Gerry Partida, Director of Engineering at Summit Interconnect Technologies, a world class PCB Fabricator, is back to discuss your data package and what he actually does with it. Gerry began his career in the Printed Board industry in 1984 at Everett Charles Test Equipment and joined Optrotech/Orbotech in 1986. He was a member of the team that introduced CAM automation, net list compare, AOI Cad Reference to industry. His current position is Read Article
Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFM/A) or Predictive Engineering Advances in interconnection technologies have occurred in response to the evolution of component packages, electronic technology and increasing complex functions. The printed circuit, therefore, has become the most popular and cost-efficient way to physically execute an electronic circuit. Fabrication, assembly and test technologies have responded by making their technologies more complex. The increased complexity and capabilities have made Read Article
Problem Solving Methodology for PCB Designers One of the skills that is useful when working in a high-technology industry like electronics is problem- solving. If you are an engineer, then this is one of your key focuses in your career. Even if you are not, having good problem-solving skills is always useful. In electronics manufacturing today, problems in production will involve numerous ‘cause-factors’, many of which are design created. PCB designer communication is essential. The timing Read Article
Slaying the 90⁰ Right-Angle Bend Dragon As anyone designing PCBs knows, there are a lot of “Rules-of-Thumb” and myths that have populated the industry. One of the areas where misinformation continues to abound focuses on 90° angle bends in PCB traces. A pretty good job has been done to address some of the most outlandish aspects of the bad data such as avoiding right-angle bends because electrons would go flying off the corners and not using them because the copper in the corners can Read Article
SAP and mSAP in Flexible Circuit Fabrication Question: What is SAP and mSAP? This is an excellent question. These acronyms are getting a lot of attention lately and are relatively new acronyms for the PCB industry, which ironically is infamous for using them. SAP and mSAP are not new terms to the electronics industry, they are common processes in IC substrate fabrication, but these are processes that are emerging technology in the PCB fabrication segment. After saying this is new technology Read Article
Weekly Digest: Protect Vias, Microvias and More We’re bringing the top industry voices together to provide you with PCB design insights you can't find anywhere else. This week listen to Gerry Partida on the OnTrack Podcast, and review content from Happy Holden, Lee Ritchey and more on the Altium PCB Design blog. Learn about via protection, microvia manufacturing processes, and more in the content below. The OnTrack Podcast with Judy Warner This week on the OnTrack Podcast, Gerry Partida Read Article
36:35 New Experiences of Part and Library Component Search Watch Video
The Right Auto Routing Algorithms Can Make or Break Your Next PCB Staying on top of every algorithm required to solve complex technical challenges is a job in itself. If you’re a competent programmer, you’ll see how to scale different algorithms up to any level, including auto routing algorithms. But with the right EDA software, you won’t have to keep re-inventing the wheel. Using an autorouter to help layout your next PCB can help you save time and can save your sanity. Unfortunately, auto routing algorithms Read Article
Design For Signal Integrity When we design PCBs, we start with setting up our Design For Manufacturing (DFM) rules in an EDA tool. However, it is likely that our Signal Integrity rules are the last thing we think about. In this blog, we’ll explore how to incorporate Design For Signal Integrity (DFSI) into our DFM routine. Design For Manufacturing Before discussing DFSI, let’s first review DFM criteria. The most driving criteria for DFM comes from the PCB’s IPC Read Article
HDI Quality and Acceptability Requirements The very nature of microvias’ small size makes the acceptability criteria difficult to define. Most HDI Quality and Acceptability requirements are still OEM defined. The IPC has IPC-6016 as part of the IPC-6012, the generic QUALIFICATION AND PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS (6010 SERIES). These specifications only cover the build-up HDI layers and not the core, which is covered by their own IPC specifications. IPC-6016 Qualification and Performance Read Article
Why Protect Vias and What is IPC 4761? Why do we need to protect vias? Here to answer is Gerry Partida, Director of Engineering at Summit Interconnect Technologies. Summit is an advanced technology manufacturer creating custom printed circuit boards. Summit focuses on complex rigid and rigid-flex products and offers extensive expertise in RF/Microwave applications. In today’s episode, Gerry will help us untangle IPC 4761 and get actionable info that you can apply to your designs Read Article
1:33:38 Altium Designer 19 - Easy, Modern and Powerful PCB Design Watch Video
Weekly Digest: Is that a Lucky Board or Did You Just Switch to Altium Designer? Are you switching from OrCAD, PADs or Eagle to Altium Designer®? Lucky you! Click on the links for helpful resources, or keep reading to see everything we published this week. We have content from Happy Holden and other industry experts on the Altium PCB Design blog this week. We’re bringing the top industry voices together to provide you with Expert News at design time. PCB Industry Expert Series on the PCB Design Blog This week we highlighted a Read Article
Accessing Board Designs Downstream Why do downstream stakeholders need access to engineer’s designs? Engineering produces documentation for a reason. Right? Well, there are a few reasons others need access. Procurement agents share the board definition with suppliers so they can get an accurate quote. So they have to pass it along. Additionally, procurement agents make more informed decisions when they have access. Suppliers need board definitions for production. They use a Read Article
5:36 5 Reasons to Upgrade to Altium Designer 19 Watch Video